Woman in traditional dress

Description:

This middle-aged woman is wearing the basic garment worn by Batek women in the 1970s and earliera long plaited rattan cord (nem) wrapped many times around her waist and supporting a loincloth. In the 1970s the loincloth was cotton cloth obtained through trade, but earlier it would have been barkcloth. She also wears flowers in her pierced ears. When in contact with outsiders, women usually wore cloth sarongs over their nem, knotted above their breasts. Nowadays younger women usually wear panties and bras obtained by trade, and they dispense with the nem.